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Not for the first time, Caritas Internationalis, the second-largest humanitarian relief agency in the world after the Red Cross, has been going through a rough patch in its relations with the Vatican, says The Tablet.
This has resulted in the demoralising departure of its secretary general, Dr Lesley-Anne Knight, the renewal of whose four-year contract was blocked by Vatican officials.
There appear to be three elements at work: a turf war between Caritas and the Vatican department which deals with charitable activity, Cor Unum; a personality conflict, in that Dr Knight and Vatican officialdom have clearly failed to forge a good working relationship.
Thirdly, a difference of emphasis over policy, which has brought to light the Vatican’s wish that Catholic relief and development agencies should develop a stronger Catholic identity.
There is little evidence to support a rumour on the internet that Dr Knight’s real offence was to stand up for the Caritas-affiliated agency in Canada, which pro-life campaigners in North America had accused of being soft on abortion. If that was the issue, it would surely have been handled differently.
Dr Knight, a former senior official at Cafod’s headquarters in London, was likely to have been re-elected unopposed had she been allowed to stand.
The recently re-elected president of Caritas, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, has spoken out strongly in her defence. Her successor, Michel Roy, who headed France’s Caritas affiliate, Secours Catholique, shows no sign that he disagrees with her approach.
But the Vatican will press on with its intention to reform Caritas’ constitution and create a “new profile”, in the words of one official.
What this means is quite hazy, but it seems to refer to the wish that Caritas be seen to be clearly under the Holy See’s control. There are two key ideas in tension here: the need to preserve Caritas’ professionalism, and the need to incorporate it as part of the Church’s core activity, so that it is a vehicle not just of Christian charity but also of evangelisation.
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